Double Trouble
by Eudana
Summary: A transporter malfunction duplicates Naomi, and her counterpart ends up causing all kinds of mayhem aboard Voyager, much to the frustrations of her mother and the rest of the crew.


A/N: All original characters belong to Paramount. I just borrowed them to play for awhile. The story is mine.

**Double Trouble**

Naomi was thrilled that her mother had allowed her to accompany the away team to a planet they'd discovered in this system. She had studied all about the planet, called Tellaria, and was especially happy that there would be children her own age to play with for awhile. Captain Janeway had told her to report to the transporter room at 0900 hours.

The next morning, Naomi was up even before her mother was. She quickly got dressed, and went out into the living room to continue her study of Tellaria's ecosystem. She picked up a padd and read from where she'd left off yesterday. Twenty or so minutes passed, and then Naomi heard a shuffling behind her followed by a loud thud.

"Ouch!" the voice gasped.

Naomi turned around to see what had happened, and saw her mother bent over and rubbing her left knee.

"Computer, lights," Samantha ordered.

The lights came on, and then Samantha saw the offending object that her knee had collided with in the dark. It was her end table. She rolled her eyes at the dreadfully ugly piece of furniture. It had been a gift from Neelix, and although it did absolutely nothing to enhance the decor of her quarters, Samantha just didn't have the heart to get rid of it for fear of hurting the Talaxian's feelings.

"Naomi, why are you up so early?" she asked when she saw Naomi sitting there.

"Just researching before my away mission. I _am_ the Captain's Assistant, Mom," Naomi said as professionally as she could.

Samantha laughed. Naomi was sure taking this Captain's Assistant thing very seriously. Well, maybe that was a good thing. At least it kept her busy. The pain in her knee subsided, Samantha walked over to the replicator.

"Can I make the Captain's Assistant some breakfast before she goes on her mission?" Samantha asked with a smile.

"Yes please," Naomi answered, briefly looking up from her padd.

"What would you like?" she asked.

"Two eggs over easy, a side of bacon and a cup of black coffee, please," Naomi responded without hesitation.

"Black coffee?" Samantha asked.

"That's what Captain Janeway has each morning," Naomi replied matter-of-factly.

Naomi gave her mother a serious look, and so rather than debate the issue, Samantha simply input the order into the replicator. The replicator produced two eggs over easy, a side of bacon, and a cup of black coffee, and Samantha set the plate in front of Naomi.

"Here you go," she said.

Now, given the fact that Naomi had never had coffee before, Samantha was a bit curious as to whether Naomi would actually drink it or not. To her surprise, Naomi took a sip. From the face her daughter made when she had swallowed, it was clear to Ensign Wildman that Naomi wasn't too sure about the coffee part of her breakfast any longer.

"Yuck!" Naomi said, making a face, and shoving away the coffee cup. "I don't think I like coffee anymore!"

Her mother just rolled her eyes and laughed as Naomi pushed the cup of coffee away.

A few minutes later, Naomi glanced at the chronometer on the wall. It was almost 0900.

"I have to go or I'll be late," Naomi said, as if she were the parent and her mother were the child.

"Don't get into trouble down there now. Listen to Captain Janeway," her mother reminded her.

"I will, Mom," Naomi said as she left.

****

Naomi entered the transporter room to find that Captain Janeway, Lieutenant Paris, and Lieutenant Commander Tuvok were already there. Tuvok was debating something quietly with the captain, and Tom Paris was pretending to be busy at a console, but all the while being quite amused at Tuvok's ever persistent attention to protocols.

"Well, is the Captain's Assistant ready for her first away mission?" Paris asked Naomi when he saw her come in.

"I sure am!" Naomi replied excitedly.

Captain Janeway smiled. The four stepped onto the transporter pad, and were beamed down to Tellaria. As soon as Naomi saw her surroundings, she was awestruck. They had materialized in the midst of a beautiful garden landscape. Flowers were planted everywhere, and a nearby stream bubbled softly. The air was fresh and clean, and carried a faint aroma of flowers. A group of adults and children ran to greet the Voyager group.

"Greetings from Tellaria, Captain Janeway!"

She was greeted by a middle aged man.

"Minister Kemrit," Janeway addressed him. "May I introduce Mister Tuvok and Mister Paris?"

Kemrit nodded politely to the two men, and they returned the gesture.

"And this is Naomi Wildman," Janeway said.

Naomi extended her hand to Kemrit. "How do you do, Minister Kemrit?" she greeted him, using her very best manners.

He shook her hand and smiled, then motioned for one of the boys behind him to step forward.

"This is Maytor," Kemrit introduced the boy.

Maytor was not much older than she. He was a tall, lanky boy with raven black hair and captivating green eyes. He wore long white pants, and a white vest. Naomi couldn't help but stare at Maytor's muscular chest.

"Hi," Naomi greeted him.

"Would you like to come and play with us?" Maytor asked.

Naomi looked to the captain for approval.

"May I, Captain?" she asked.

Janeway nodded. "Tuvok, go with her."

The Vulcan nodded and followed Naomi and the other children. Maytor and the other children led Naomi and Tuvok to another garden. Maytor pointed to the children one by one, and introduced them.

"This is Remi," Maytor said, pointing to a nearly-ten year old boy.

Remi smiled. "This is my sister Tirla and my brother Aran," he said, indicating the two younger children flanking him on either side. Aran seemed quite fascinated with Naomi's forehead spikes, and kept staring at them.

"Why do that man's ears look that way?" Tirla asked, looking up at Tuvok.

"He's a Vulcan. All Vulcans' ears look that way," Naomi explained.

Tuvok simply stood there.

"Let's show Naomi how to play Vahnti!" Remi suggested.

The other children quickly agreed. Maytor looked at Tuvok.

"Will your friend play with us?" he asked Naomi. "We need him to be in the middle."

Naomi looked at Tuvok. "Tuvok, will you play with us?" she asked.

Tuvok standing there with his arms behind his back, raised an eyebrow, but did not object.

"So how do we play?" Naomi asked.

"We'll show you," Maytor said.

The children began running around Tuvok in a circle, but stopped and looked at Tuvok.

"You must also turn," Maytor instructed Tuvok. "In the opposite direction."

Tuvok didn't look too happy, but nodded. "Very well."

The Vulcan began turning in a circle, and the children raced around him in the opposite direction. Every once in awhile one of them would tap Tuvok and yell out 'Vahnti'. Then everyone would switch directions.

"Join us Naomi," Aran said.

Naomi shrugged, and joined in on the fun. She wasn't quite sure what the object of this game was, but since the other children seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely, she figured she would too. Ever so often one of the Tellarian children would reach out and tap Tuvok while they ran. Naomi soon figured out that this game was a variation of an Earth game she played with Neelix called tag. Tuvok simply just stood there while the children raced around him.

Two hours later, the children were playing an improvised version of Kotis Kot that Naomi had taught them when Janeway and Paris found them.

"Naomi, time to go," Janeway said.

"Oh, Naomi, please don't go!" Aran begged.

"Naomi can come back to play with you tomorrow," Janeway assured them.

"I'll be back," Naomi told them.

The children smiled, and bade their farewells to Naomi, and then scampered off. Maytor smiled at Naomi, and then ran off as and Naomi accompanied Janeway back to the transport site where Paris was waiting for them.

Janeway tapped her commbadge. "Janeway to Voyager, four to beam up," the captain said.

"Acknowledged," the transporter ensign replied. "Stand by."

****

Moments later, Voyager's transporter hummed to life, but suddenly, an alarm sounded from one of the consoles.

"Wait a minute. There's a problem here," the transporter ensign said. "I'm getting five patterns instead of just four."

"Five?" Chakotay asked. "Is it possible we've accidentally beamed up one of the Tellarans?"

The ensign shook his head. "I don't think so, sir. The reading is human...and Ktarian!"

Chakotay looked baffled. There was only one human-Ktarian on the away team...Naomi! There was nothing they could do to stop the transport procedure. When Janeway, Paris, and Tuvok rematerialized, they all immediately noticed that there were now two Naomi Wildmans on the transporter pad. They were as baffled as Chakotay was. The two Naomi's looked oddly at one another.

"Um...Captain?" one of them asked. They both were obviously confused.

"Ensign?" the captain asked.

The ensign at the transporter controls worked his console.

"I don't see any sign of a malfunction, Captain," he said. "I'm not sure what happened."

"I think we'd better get you both to sickbay," Janeway told the two Naomi's. "Commander, would you inform Ensign Wildman?"

Chakotay nodded.

Minutes later in sickbay, both Naomi Wildman's were being scanned by The Doctor. Samantha was standing there confused and bewildered.

"How did this happen?" she asked.

"We aren't sure. There was a transporter malfunction, but by the time we realized it, it was too late to do anything about it," Janeway explained.

"They are identical in every way, right down to their DNA sequences," The Doctor said, studying his tricorder readouts.

"You mean there's no way you can tell them apart?" Samantha asked.

"I'm afraid not," he answered.

****

That night in the Wildman's quarters, Naomi and her twin were still as confused as they were earlier, but it was now obvious to Samantha that she'd have to take care of them both, at least until they figured out what had happened.

"How come there are two of us, Mom?" Naomi asked.

"Harry thinks that something in the planet's atmosphere caused the transporter to malfunction, but..."

"You mean I'm...an accident?" Naomi's twin interrupted Samantha.

"No," Samantha insisted. "What happened was an accident. You are not an accident."

"What's going to happen to me...to us?" Naomi asked.

"Won't it get confusing with two of us on the ship now?" Naomi's counterpart asked.

"Well, I guess we will have to think of another name for you," Samantha said. "How about Nicole? That's Naomi's middle name."

The girl smiled. She liked that name.

****

Two weeks later, Nicole seemed to be fitting in quite nicely, and had even started taking biology lessons from The Doctor, and science lessons from Naomi's mother. One evening, Nicole, or Nikki as she was called, was bored. She didn't find The Doctor's lessons very exciting, and not even Kotis Kot was fun anymore. She wanted to have some real fun, so she decided to go to Engineering. She surprisingly had absolutely no trouble getting there, and as soon as she stepped off of the turbolift, she went straight to a console. However, before she could even push a button B'Elanna spotted her, and was hovering over her in an instant.

"Naomi, you know you aren't supposed to be down here without your mother," she admonished the girl.

"I'm not Naomi," Nikki said. "I'm Nikki."

"Well, still...You shouldn't be down here. There are too many things for you to get into. You'll have to leave," Torres said.

Nikki frowned. "Okay," she said sadly, and left.

There just wasn't much fun to be had on this ship at all.

****

That night at dinner, Nikki didn't look too happy. Samantha noticed, and asked her what was wrong.

"I don't think Lieutenant Torres likes me," Nikki said. "She made me leave Engineering yesterday when all I wanted to do was just look around."

"Well, Engineering isn't exactly a place for children," Wildman said.

"B'Elanna doesn't even let me go down there unless I'm with Mom or Seven," Naomi told Nikki.

"I have an idea. Naomi, why don't you show Nikki the holodeck tomorrow," Samantha suggested.

Nikki looked confused. "What's a holodeck?"

"It's a computer generated environment," Naomi explained. "We can create all sorts of programs."

Nikki was fascinated. She would definitely have to check out this holodeck tomorrow. The holodeck did indeed prove to be quite fascinating to Nikki. In fact, she spent all day there, and Samantha had to practically drag her to bed. The next afternoon, Nikki was just itching to return to the holodeck again.

"Naomi let's go to the holodeck again!" Nikki urged.

"I can't. I've got to go for my lesson with The Doctor now," Naomi replied.

"Oh...Well, I want to go. I'll see you later."

Nikki shrugged and went off towards the holodeck by herself. When she got there, she went inside.

"Computer, show me what Voyager's engineering room looks like," Nikki requested.

Seconds later, the holo-grid was replaced by the simulated interior of Voyager's engineering section.

"Computer, interface the holographic engineering controls to control Voyager."

"That function requires a command code authorization," the computer responded.

Nikki had anticipated this. She tapped on a console, and input Samantha's command code that she had seen her using the night before. The computer chirped in response. Nikki smiled when she found the console that controlled all of the turbolift sensors on deck one. She could have some real fun with this! Randomly she began pushing buttons and panels, blissfully unaware of what was about to happen on the bridge as the result of her tampering.

****

The bridge turbolift doors opened to let Chakotay out, only they decided at the last minute to close while the commander was only halfway through them.

"Ow!" Chakotay cried as the doors closed around him.

His cries attracted the attention of nearly everyone on the bridge. He backed up slightly, but only succeeded in getting his face smashed by the errant turbolift. The doors continued smashing first his ears, and then his nose, and finally compressed his cheeks, causing his lips to pucker. By this time, the melee had attracted the attention of the entire bridge crew. No one could help themselves, and they were all laughing, aside from Tuvok of course.

"Perhaps the turbolift is malfunctioning," Tuvok observed.

Janeway had to resist the urge to giggle at Tuvok's frank assessment. All that they could see of Chakotay now were his reddened, puckered lips and the tip of his nose poking out from in between the doors.

"Mr. Kim, disable the bridge turbolift for Commander Chakotay, please," the captain requested.

Kim nodded. "Aye, Captain."

Seconds later, the doors freed the commander, and he rubbed his sore face.

"Are you alright, Commander?" Janeway asked.

"Yes, Captain," Chakotay replied, a little embarrassed. He rubbed his sore face.

"Perhaps you should go to sickbay," the captain suggested.

"Good idea," Chakotay said as he headed back towards the lift, but then stopped. "I think I'll use the Jeffries tube."

****

Nikki was clearly enjoying her holodeck escapade as she pushed button after button, not even realizing what she was doing. Suddenly, a voice startled her.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" It was Torres, or at least a holodeck replica of Torres, and she didn't look too happy.

"Uh...Computer, freeze program!"

The computer complied.

"Hmmm..." Nikki thought for a moment, and then an idea, so brazen...so bold popped into her head.

She chuckled as she worked the holodeck controls to alter the program. Seconds later, Torres's uniform disappeared and was replaced by a frilly, pink ballerina's tu-tu. A few seconds later, a lovely piece of classical music began to play, and Torres began dancing gracefully around the room in her new pink get-up.

"Computer, increase program speed by...50 percent!" Nikki ordered.

The computer chirped in compliance and the holographic Torres began dancing around much faster. As Nikki surveyed her proudly created chaos, she began guffawing at the sight of it all. She laughed even harder when the dancing Torres began bumping into consoles, but still continued to dance. In fact, Nikki was having such a good time watching all of this, that she didn't even hear the doors open, or Ensign Wildman come in. Samantha was clearly taken aback by what she saw. The sight of Lieutenant Torres dressed up in a ballerina's garb, and dancing about was nearly enough to send the poor ensign into fits of laughter, but she bit her lip and contained her giggles. Just then, the dancing replica of Torres grabbed Samantha, and began trying to dance with her.

Ensign Wildman gasped. "Computer, end program! Naomi, what...on earth is going on in here?"

"Uh...Hi, Mom!" Nikki said, pretending to be her twin.

I think...we should go home now!" her mother strongly suggested, and ushered Nikki out of the room.

Naomi, who was just on her way to the holodeck, nearly bumped right into them.

"Hi, Mom...Hi, Nikki," Naomi said.

Samantha was looking sorely confused now. She looked at Nikki.

"Nikki?" Samantha asked.

"I'm not Nikki, I'm Naomi," Nikki said.

Naomi was beginning to look worried. "No you aren't! I'm Naomi!" Naomi insisted.

Samantha looked at the both of them, and then touched her hand to her forehead. "Oh, I'm getting a headache!" she lamented.

****

Later that night, Nikki and Naomi were getting ready for bed.

"Why did you pretend to be me?" Naomi asked.

Because it's fun," Nikki said. "You should've seen what I made Lieutenant Torres do in the holodeck today!"

Naomi wasn't at all interested in any of Nikki's shenanigans. She turned out the light, and crawled under her covers. Nikki however, was already laying plans for tomorrow's activities. It would be a very eventful day indeed!

The following day in sickbay, Nikki was asking The Doctor about literally every device in the room, and what it's function was. She seemed particularly fascinated with a certain small item.

"What's this?" Nikki asked, pointing to a device on the table.

"That is called an autonomous, self sustaining holographic emitter. It makes it possible for me to leave this room and travel all over the ship," The Doctor explained.

"Wow!" Nikki gasped. "Can it make every holographic person do that?"

The Doctor nodded. "Yes."

Just then, Chakotay entered. His face looked slightly red and a tad swollen.

"Commander, what seems to be the problem?" The Doctor asked.

"I had a slight run in with a malfunctioning turbolift," he explained sheepishly.

Nikki had to resist the urge to giggle. She waited until neither of them were looking, and then quickly swiped the emitter from the table, and ran off. She knew just what she was going to do with it!

****

"Here, Flotter," Nikki said, handing him the mobile emitter. "It's a present!"

"What is it?" he asked.

"It's a magic device that can take you outside this forest to a really cool space ship called Voyager!" she explained. "You stick it on your arm, and you can go anywhere with it."

Flotter took it and stuck it on his arm. He slowly walked outside the confines of the holodeck, and was in a long corridor. He'd never seen anything like it. He began walking, gazing in wonder at the new sights around him.

****

Suddenly on the bridge, the intruder alert sounded. Tuvok worked at his security console.

"Curious, Captain," he said. "Security has reported an alien lifeform on deck five with Naomi Wildman. It appears to be wearing The Doctor's holo-emitter."

Just then, The Doctor called the bridge.

"Sickbay to bridge. Captain, someone has stolen my..."

"Yes, we know, Doctor," Janeway said. "Stand by."

She motioned to Tuvok to go investigate.

The alien intruder, Flotter, was strolling about deck five gawking at all the blinking panels. When an unsuspecting ensign rounded a corner, he bumped right into her.

"Oh, I'm sorry...Flotter!" Samantha Wildman exclaimed, a bit perplexed as to just exactly how Flotter could be standing right in front of her. "How?" she started to ask, but then realized that he was wearing The Doctor's holo-emitter.

"Oh, hi, Samantha! I was just exploring this fascinating ship!" Flotter said. "Can you show me around?"

Samantha wasn't about to do that.

"Where did you get that?" Samantha asked, pointing at the holo-emitter.

"Naomi gave it to me as a present!" Flotter said proudly.

Moments later, Tuvok and a security team found Ensign Wildman and Flotter in the corridor.

"It's ok," Samantha said, raising her hand up to fend their phasers away. "This isn't an intruder."

Tuvok raised an inquisitive eyebrow at Samantha, clearly searching for an explanation.

"He's a holographic character from one of Naomi's programs. I found him wandering the corridor," she explained. "He said that Naomi gave him The Doctor's holo-emitter as a present."

Tuvok looked mildly annoyed at hearing about this security breach.

"Computer, transfer the holographic character on deck six to holo-buffer four," Tuvok ordered.

Seconds later, Flotter dematerialized leaving the holo-emitter behind. Tuvok picked it up.

"I believe the captain will want to speak to Naomi concerning this incident," Tuvok told her.

Wildman nodded. "So will I, Lieutenant! So will I!"

****

Naomi Wildman sat in a chair across from Captain Janeway's desk. Her mother didn't look too happy with her.

"This is something quite serious, Naomi. Tampering with ship's systems and stealing The Doctor's holo-emitter. I think you know better than that," the captain said.

Naomi frowned.

"But, Captain...I didn't do it!" she said. "Nikki was the last one playing the program, not me! I was with Seven!"

Neither the captain or Naomi's mother looked very convinced.

"Naomi, you know better than to do things like this," her mother admonished her.

"But-"

Samantha held up a hand, silencing her daughter in mid-sentence.

"We'll talk about this at home," she said. "Your holodeck privileges are suspended until further notice."

****

The next afternoon, Ensign Kim entered the Mess Hall carrying an engineering kit. He'd been summoned by a very flustered Neelix who'd told him to come down right away. Kim found the Talaxian staring quizically at the replicator in the kitchen.

"Neelix, what can I do for you?" Kim asked.

"The replicator seems to be malfunctioning," Neelix explained.

Kim began scanning the replicator with his tricorder.

"All it makes is hot, plain tomato soup and nothing else," the Talaxian said.

As if on cue, the replicator produced a perfect bowl of hot, plain tomato soup.

Harry stopped scanning for a moment.

"Hot, plain tomato soup?" Kim asked.

Again the replicator made a bowl of hot, plain tomato soup. Kim frowned.

"See?" Neelix said.

"I didn't tell it to do that," Kim said, confused.

Suddenly, the thermal array in the kitchen took a turn for the worst. Several crew members gasped and ducked for cover as it proceeded to vaporize an entire pot of some kind of mush that Neelix had been slaving over all morning. Glops of a gooey, paste-like substance spattered in every direction.

"Oh! My leola root oatmeal!" Neelix wailed as he rushed over to the stove, albeit too late to save his oatmeal. "I spent all morning perfecting the recipe!" He looked on the verge of throwing a full blown fit.

Harry carefully peered out from behind the counter, and when it appeared to be safe to venture out from behind it, he slowly made his way into Neelix's kitchen. He took one step towards the stove, and began scanning with his tricorder. The thermal array was buzzing in an angry sounding monotone as Harry reached for the controls to shut it off. Suddenly, it spewed more of the oatmeal. Unfortunately Kim had nowhere to hide from the onslaught of the sticky mess that erupted from the pot, and the slop caught him square in the face. Recoiling, Harry Kim scraped some oatmeal off of his tunic. The stuff was clearly in no better shape than Neelix's kitchen was.

Janeway's voice suddenly came over the comm system. "Bridge to Mess Hall, we just registered a massive power surge down there. Is everyone alright?"

"Yes, Captain," Neelix responded. "I think the only fatality was tomorrow's breakfast!"

"I see," Janeway's voice responded.

"This is going to be a long day!" Kim muttered as he wiped himself off.

****

Nikki Wildman skipped along the corridor on deck seven on her way to the holodeck. She really wasn't supposed to be there, as Samantha had expressly instructed both her and Naomi to stay out of the holodecks for awhile, but she just wanted to have a little fun. Just a little, and then she'd leave. She entered to find the Engineering room waiting for her.

"Hi, B'Elanna...Can I play in Engineering for awhile?" Nikki asked.

"Sure!" Torres said. "Have fun!"

_Oh, boy! Would she ever!_

Nikki smiled as she skipped off to a console and began pushing all kinds of buttons.

"Computer, locate Tuvok," she ordered.

The computer chirped in response. "Lieutenant Commander Tuvok is in his quarters," the voice replied.

"Where exactly in his quarters is he?" Nikki asked.

"Lieutenant Commander Tuvok is entering his sonic shower."

"Yes!" Nikki chuckled.

She entered a few commands into a console, and opened a one way comm link to his quarters.

****

Just at that moment, Tuvok was stepping into his sonic shower.

"Computer," he ordered. "Begin sonic shower."

The computer chirped in response, but instead of producing the steady stream of cleansing sonic rays, the shower sputtered a bit, and suddenly spurted a sticky, brown ooze all over the Vulcan. Tuvok, suddenly noticing the odd substance all over him, raised an eyebrow.

"Computer, disengage sonic shower," he ordered.

Instead of stopping however, the sonic shower only produced more of the brown slime. It was getting all over the place now. In Tuvok's hair, in his ears, and even in his mouth. The onslaught of sticky ooze finally stopped, only to be replaced by an explosion of hundreds of white feathers that stuck to him like glue. Being the ever placid Vulcan, he simply stepped out of the shower, calmly picked up a towel, and tried his best to wipe himself off. After several minutes, he looked no better off, and decided that a visit the the captain was in order.

****

Nikki giggled loudly, and envisioned what Tuvok must look like now. Just then, she got a brilliant idea, and ran off to a replicator. She needed some super glue! A replicator in empty crew quarters provided her with a big round tube of the sticky substance, and she headed towards the cargo bay. Nikki had quite a time trying to both hide the tube of glue, and look innocent to passing crewmen, but surprisingly she managed not to raise anyone's suspicions. In the cargo bay, she found Seven of Nine regenerating in her alcove. She tip toed carefully up to the alcove, and unscrewed the glue bottle's cap.

****

The ready room's door chime suddenly rang.

"Come in," Janeway said.

Tuvok entered, still covered with caramel and feathers. Immediately upon seeing him, Captain Janeway looked shocked.

"I apologize for my disheveled appearance, Captain. My sonic shower seems to be malfunctioning," he explained.

"I...see, Mr. Tuvok. What is...that?" she asked.

"My tricorder identified it as Ktarian caramel sauce," he answered, looking at Naomi. "The feathers are from an ancient Earth fowl known as a goose."

Janeway was admittedly speechless.

"Um...I see," the captain said, desperately trying not to laugh.

"Perhaps Lieutenant Torres should run a diagnostic on the sonic shower system in my quarters," Tuvok said calmly.

"That...sounds like a good idea," Janeway said, still trying not to laugh. 

A short time later...

Samantha entered Astrometrics where Naomi was working with Seven of Nine.

"Naomi, let's go home," Wildman said.

Her daughter looked confused. "But why?" she asked.

"I think you know why." She herded Naomi out the door. "Let's go, young lady!"

"But, Mom-"

"March!" Samantha ordered sternly, pointing towards the turbolift.

Naomi frowned and bowed her head sadly, but complied.

****

A few hours later...

Captain Janeway couldn't help but giggle just a little as she entered the bridge from her ready room. Naomi had certainly livened up everyone's daily lives recently. Just then, the comm system came to life.

"Doctor to Captain Janeway."

"Go ahead, Doctor," the captain said.

"Captain, it appears that someone has...assaulted Seven of Nine while she was regenerating," he said.

"What?" she said, shocked. "How?"

"She appears to have been...glued to her alcove," he said. "And I must admit that I am having trouble freeing her."

"Glued to her alcove?" the captain asked incredulously. "And I thought I'd heard it all," she added softly.

****

"Doctor, I insist that you remove me from my alcove! My regeneration cycle is complete!" Seven demanded, trying to wriggle free.

"I'm doing my best, Seven. Just try to stay still," he said, scanning her with a tricorder.

Seven heaved an indignant sigh, signaling her annoyance.

On the bridge, everyone was guffawing and laughing hysterically. Tom Paris was laughing so hard at the helm that tears were spilling down his cheeks. Try as she might, Captain Janeway just could not regain her composure. The thought and mental image of Seven glued into her alcove was just too much for her self control to handle. No one else on the bridge seemed to have much luck containing themselves either. Finally, Janeway managed to stop laughing.

"As you were!" she ordered the rest of the bridge crew, and their laughter obediently diminished.

The captain sat in her command chair, and pretended to busy herself at her console, but the image of Seven glued to her alcove soon got the best of her again, and she burst into laughter. Of course this only prompted everyone on the bridge to start laughing even louder than before, and when an ensign actually started to hyperventilate, he had to be carted off to sickbay.

****

Nikki and Naomi sat on the couch in their quarters staring across to a very unhappy looking Samantha.

"Girls, I want a truthful answer. Which one of you glued Seven into her alcove and made Tuvok's sonic shower malfunction?" she asked sternly.

Naomi frowned, but Nikki couldn't help it and let a little giggle slip out. Samantha gave her a look.

"Nikki..." she said.

"Nikki, why are you doing all of these things?" Naomi asked, in tears.

"I just wanted to have some fun on this boring ship," Nikki said matter-of-factly. "I guess I might have more fun down on Tellaria."

"Would you like to stay on the planet?" Samantha asked.

Nikki was silent for a few moments, and then nodded.

The next morning, after apologizing to all of the various crewmembers she had tormented during her stay, Nikki was on her way to her new home on Tellaria. The children Naomi had played with were thrilled that Nikki would be a permanent resident of their homeworld now, and Nikki seemed happier there. Naomi had to admit though that a secret part of her deep down inside was envious that it was her counterpart and not her who had had all the fun. She had always wanted to pull pranks on the crew...

Then again, they were a long way from home. Naomi knew that there would still be plenty more time for pranks. She smiled a mischievous grin, her mind racing with a plethora of ideas inspired by her counterpart. "I think I'm going to miss Nikki!" 


End file.
